Walmart ended today at $146.42, a 0.18% increase

Today at a glance: generally flat but with a slight bullish bias, Walmart ranged between $145.47 and $146.81 before closing higher at $146.42.

• Today's trading volume was 5 million shares which is slightly below the 21-day average of 5.70 million.
• Walmart's board sets quarterly dividend of 57 cents per share to be paid on Tuesday, January 2nd; annual dividend yield esimated at 1.56%.

With investors awaiting market open in 3 days, today's session was noteworthy in that S&P 500 built upon its previous close around 4,151.28 to gain 1.3%, before closing the session at 4,205.45. Dow Jones increases 1% before ending the session at 33,100. Walmart's gains were in line with the Consumer Defensive sector which was up 0.538% as a whole.

Walmart hit a significant low of $118.29 around 11 months ago, but has since recovered 23.56%. So far this year, it has performed better than the Dow Jones by 2.15%. Walmart's market cap currently stands at $394.95 billion with an average daily trading volume of 5.70 million shares. Walmart is forecasted to generate revenues of $148.65 billion and EPS of $1.32.

Walmart disclosed a quarterly dividend of 57 cents per share on Tuesday, February 21st that was paid on Tuesday, January 2nd to all shareholders of record up until Friday, May 5th. Based on current prices, the company's decision thereby provides Walmart investors with an annual dividend yield of 1.56%.

This rally in Walmart's share price coincided with other consumer staples stocks as Costco was up 4.26%. Anheuser-Busch was up 0.49%.

While Walmart was bullish today, the following consumer staples stocks underperformed: Coca-Cola closed at $60.26 (down 0.25%).